Simple Prayer Honoring the Departed
Instruction:
Sometimes those who are about to die make a prayer if they have time to do so. Most don't. One custom of many ancient cultures is to speak such a prayer on their behalf before making an offering to "feed" their Wights and give them strength for their new, long journey. Here is one to consider.
For yourself:
Hail all and hear me now.
I call this forth in honor of (name),
that they may hear also,
and those present,
seen and unseen,
shall honor these wishes,
and abide by these words.
Behold—now I see my forebears.
Behold—my father and my mother,
my sisters and my brothers,
kin bound by blood,
oath, and soil.
Behold—the long line of my people,
unbroken from the first hearth to this breath.
From the realms above—from Heaven, the high places,
the over-world where wights abide—their voices carry to me.
The wights of my kin call across the divide,
calling not in sorrow, but in knowing.
They bid me rise and remember.
They bid me take the place set aside,
not as a stranger, but as one known.
Hail to the One God,
who gathers the fallen and keeps the measure of fate.
Hail to the Three Goddesses,
who shape the thread,
guard the crossing,
and keep the dead in their care.
They lead me toward Valhal—hall of the fallen,
house of the honored dead,
temple and tomb alike.
Stone and mound,
earth and roof,
where the brave are laid to rest
and yet do not fade.
There, beneath mound and heaven both,
the wights endure.
There, memory is shelter
and name is breath.
There, courage is kept
and the dead are not lost.
May I stand among them in my,
wight among wights eternal,
held in honor,
remembered in the hall,
and rooted in the earth
until the turning and the end of the ages.
On behalf of another
Behold—[Name]—now you see your forebears.
Behold—your father and your mother,
your sisters and your brothers,
kin of blood, oath, and earth.
Behold—the long line of your people,
unbroken from the first hearth to this hour.
From the realms above—
from Heaven, the high places,
the over-world where wights abide—
their voices reach you now.
The wights of your kin call your name,
not in grief, but in welcome.
They bid you remember who you are.
They bid you step forward without fear,
to take the place set aside for you,
as one known and awaited.
Hail to the One God,
keeper of fate and gatherer of the fallen.
Hail to the Three Goddesses,
shapers of the thread,
guardians of the crossing,
wardens of the honored dead.
They lead you toward Valhal—
hall of the fallen,
house of the brave,
temple and tomb entwined.
Mound and stone, earth and roof,
where the dead are laid in honor
and yet endure as wights.
There you stand among your people,
wight among wights,
held in memory,
named in the hall,
rooted in the earth
and sheltered beneath Heaven.
Go in honor, [Name].
Your place is known.
Your people receive you.
Your good deeds are not forgotten.
Your worldly debts are paid.
Rest now in good will, peace and eternity.
Be mindful:
One of the ancient customs reflected here is the grave as a burial mound that originally had catacomb like places where generations of the departed would be placed and considered a bridge to the "Other Side" where Here and Now is bridged to the Hereafter.
The Valhal is in fact a burial mound (Hall of the Fallen) where Val (fall) + Hal (hall, and akin also to the word Hel before hijacked and re-imagined under outside concepts) also had its connection with the concept of sacred caves of long forgotten ancestors that also served as tombs and cemeteries. This inspired the concept of mystical cavernous underworld.
The concept of Heaven in turn for the "Everlasting Sky" of both day and night, was also known as Heaven which is from the same root and meaning of Haven. Both come from the association with both the blue sea and blue sky and became a common term for port/shelter and also "lifted up" in reference to ships.
Associations of "Sky Ships" was also sometimes a term for both clouds and the perceived boats of the wights of the dead sailing the seas of the sky rather than the seas below which also connects the concept of ship burials. Ultimately the concept holds to a lifted up shelter ad also was used in reference to holy sites at the top or upper most regions of mountains depending the context.
Finally, the main point to be aware of is these ancient beliefs all come down to one simple reality. The concept of the physical and spiritual realms are ultimately interwoven concepts as two sides of the same coin, though a better anthology would be shared threads of the same cloth, not as separate and distinct realities, but twin aspects of the same reality of the seen and unseen sometimes able to be glimpsed in a state of something translucent or in between, so in that sense the departed are never truly lost, nor are they entirely cut off from the still living.
